When you’re fighting in your element, you hardly ever lose Part 2

"I'm in."

Another murmur went through the audience. The setup

would be rare enough with nanashi taking part, but to have

NO NAME as my opponent brought it to another level. No

one realized just how incredible the battle they were about to

see was. The final match in the tournament was a ditto

match between the top two players in Japan.

"Heh-heh. Well then, time to choose the character."

"Exciting."

Our eyes locked, neither of us backing down. We were so

fired up now that a couple of people in the audience shouted,

too.

The final match between Hinami and me was about to

begin.

A ditto match with our main characters banned.

Obviously, the key point now was which character to use.

If one of us got to choose, it was possible we'd cheat by

choosing a character we were decent at, and while I highly

doubt either of us would do that, the important thing was to

rule it out completely.

We discussed and came up with a plan.

"Harry-san!" Hinami called over to our host.

"What's up?"

"Choosing at random would be boring, so I was

wondering if you'd do the honors!"

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Harry-san hesitated. "I don't mind, but what do you think,

nanashi-kun?"

I nodded. "I'm fine with it."

"Well, in that case…"

He paused, looking at the character-selection screen on

the monitor. Then he gave a satisfied nod and looked back at

us.

"Gonna go with Wigglypoff. I want to see how you two use

her so I can get some tips!"

Hinami nodded solemnly. "Understood! Nanashi-kun, is

that okay with you?"

"Fine by me."

Continuing our little act, we casually accepted his choice.

He threw us a slightly worried look.

"I'm just curious… How much experience do you two have

with Wigglypoff?"

"Almost none!" said Hinami. "I've done the bare

minimum. Seen a few videos. That's it."

"Same here."

"Okay, then it's fair!" He smiled boyishly. I guess he was

just crossing his t's and dotting his i's as host.

I half suspected Hinami was fishing for Wigglypoff by

calling on Harry-san, but I don't think that's in character for

her. She probably simply wanted to create the appearance of

fairness.

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"All righty then, it's a Wigglypoff ditto between nanashikun and Aoi-san! I have a feeling this is gonna be good!"

The audience buzzed with excitement.

"Oh, by the way…," Harry-san said bashfully. "Would you

mind if I put this one on my channel? I think people would

like to see it…"

"…Oh, on YouTube?"

"Yeah."

He probably wanted to livestream it, specifically.

Well, there were already plenty of videos of me online

because people I play against would post them without

asking sometimes, and I wasn't trying to hide the fact that I

was at this meetup. I didn't see an issue.

"Sure, but…"

I glanced at Hinami, who turned to Harry-san with a

pleasant expression.

"It's fine! Just don't share my face or voice, please!"

"Oh, don't worry about that! I'll be covering it myself!"

"Ooh, commentary? Got it, ha-ha."

She giggled. The fun, bright aura she gave off at little

moments like this was another characteristic of her perfectheroine mode. I'm fairly sure anyone watching her would be

willing to do whatever it took to make her smile some more.

Although strictly speaking, I wouldn't be.

"Okay! I'll get everything set up. It'll just take a minute."

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Well, that was decided fast. Hinami and I were going live

on YouTube. All I had to do was play without talking—so the

usual—but who can help being nervous in that kind of

situation?

* * *

An offline meetup five minutes from a train station in

Tokyo.

A dozen or so people stood around one of three tables,

waiting to watch the game. The monitor was hooked up to a

laptop via some little device.

"Hello, hello! Harry here."

"And Max."

Harry-san and Max-san were speaking crisply into a mic

connected to the laptop via a different device. Compared

with a minute earlier, they'd taken on their usual roles.

Guess their announcer switch just got turned on. I'd never

seen a broadcast being recorded before, and I was struck by

how they commented on the most insignificant stuff. Also,

they were a lot louder than I expected.

"Believe it or not, today…"

Harry-san gave his viewers a brief rundown of the day's

event. He explained that this was the final match in a

tournament at an AtaHouse meetup, that it was a ditto

match—and that one of the players was nanashi. In order to

keep unnecessary information out of my brain, I didn't listen

or check the chat to see how many people were there or what

kinds of comments they were making.

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"Well, I hate to keep everyone waiting, so let's get this

game started! Please nod if you're ready, players!"

At that unspoken hint from Harry-san that we didn't need

to say anything, we both gave our silent approval.

Personally, I was ready the second I sat down.

"Then let's begin!"

That was the signal for Hinami and me to choose

Wigglypoff as well as the stage we'd agreed on in advance. It

was a simple, medium-sized stage with a platform on either

side.

A new screen appeared. Two Wigglypoffs floated down to

the stage.

"Three! Two! One!"

I released the unnecessary tension from my hands around

the controller.

Sweeping all other thoughts from my mind, I calmly took

in the screen.

"GO!"

As the game's announcer signaled the start, Hinami's and

my Wigglypoffs both did a short hop at almost the same

instant. We moved closer to each other in a rapid swirl of air

attacks, taking advantage of Wigglypoff's excellent

horizontal air speed and ability to jump multiple times—

both of which she did better than any other character—and

then moved away again.

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We both did a series of jumps, performing long-lasting

moves while watching our start-up and ending lag. To the

people watching, this negotiation might look like we were

simply flying back and forth, desperately inputting a bunch

of random moves that never hit their mark. You see the

same kind of strategy a lot with other characters, but only a

Wigglypoff ditto could have this level of repeated aerial

approach and retreat.

"What are they doing?" Max-san asked Harry-san. I guess

his voice was traveling through the mic to people all across

the country.

"Well, they're sizing each other up, getting a sense for the

timing they'll need in order for their attacks to capitalize on

the other player's lag. They're also figuring out if they should

move forward or back when they attack."

"Ah, I see."

Our negotiations continued against the backdrop of

Harry-san's commentary.

If this was any ordinary opponent, I'd be able to assess

their attack timing, movement quirks, and distancing, and

that would give me a sense of timing, so if I closed in at x

moment, my attack would be sure to hit home—but in a way,

that strategy depended on my opponent making mistakes.

And with a player as good at judging the situation as Hinami

was, mistakes hardly ever happened. My inability to easily

create an opening for myself was the sure sign I was playing

a high-tier opponent.

What happens when neither player exposes themselves to

attack—it's a deadlock. The two Wigglypoffs did not expose

themselves, instead repeatedly poking at each other in the

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hopes of baiting out a whiff and shouting "Wiggly!" "Poff!"

as they desperately kicked at nothing in midair. That was all

that happened for nine or ten seconds.

"They want to be sure their poke will catch their opponent

if they happen to come flying toward them. Or they want to

be ready to act in the lag after their opponent makes theirs.

They're adjusting their timing and positioning over and over

so that it stays advantageous."

"Ah, I see."

But if you don't at the very least take some risk, you don't

get any results. Hinami moved first. She took a step into my

space to shake me up.

But my forward-air hitbox was waiting for her. And

Hinami's Wigglypoff crashed defenselessly into it as she

tried to narrow the distance between us. A low-risk poke on

my part had worked out perfectly.

"Ooh, the first hit!"

"Nanashi-san has just successfully attacked."

Hinami's Wigglypoff bent backward slightly. But I'd only

grazed her, and she didn't freeze long enough for me to start

a combo. I bore down to follow up with another hit, but she

dodged.

And back to the stalemate.

"In situations like this where your opponent approaches

to attack, if you've already made a move in advance, that will

hit your opponent before their attack hits you. That's what

we call a poke."

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"Interesting. So the other player crashes straight into the

hitbox."

"Right. Since they're sussing each other out, the hit is

almost inevitable. You could also call it luck, though."

The game moved on. Most players would probably get a

little scared and pull back slightly, but Hinami was not so

weak. Realizing that she was going to come after me again, I

maneuvered steadily, preparing another poke.

Right then, with exquisite timing, she caught me in my

own ending lag. A hit.

"And you can see here that it goes the other way

sometimes. If a player reads their opponent's poke and

punishes during the ending lag, they'll land the hit instead.

Of course, the timing is very difficult."

"You're talking about whiff punishing a poke, which is

really hard to do."

"Exactly."

We'd both scored a hit, but too late in the animation to

start a combo.

"You know there's a lot of different patterns, but

essentially, you can think of it as a game of rock-paperscissors where you'll do best by fading back."

"…That's part of rock-paper-scissors?"

"It's a little hard to explain. Basically, when you make an

attack, it's a good idea to keep your distance."

"What do you mean?"

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Hinami had faded away from me, then attacked during

my ending lag. Even though it didn't lead into a combo this

time, either, I'd probably made a mistake by giving her the

chance to punish me.

"See what just happened? If you fade in tandem with an

incoming attack, as long as your opponent isn't way more

mobile than you, you can dodge, right? Which also means

that you can go after the ending lag from the attack you just

dodged."

"Right."

"So basically, you can't lose if you fall back."

"Why not just do that all the time, then?"

Apparently, instead of proactively attacking me, Hinami

used a main strategy that seemed to be to evade and counter.

In terms of return on risk, that makes sense for Wigglypoff.

"…You'd think, right? That's what the platform is for."

"How so?"

"I mean…it ends."

"Oh. Yeah."

Hinami had backed up all the way the edge of the stage,

shielding. If I landed right where I was and successfully

baited her, I could throw her off the stage, but Wigglypoff

can go from shielding to aerials really quickly, and she's also

got good damage and hitboxes. It wasn't a choice I could

make lightly. Watching and waiting was probably a good

idea.

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"Since you've got that to worry about, falling back is a norisk, middle-return action only if you've got plenty of room

behind you. But as soon as you run out of room, that's the

end of that."

"Right, 'cause there's nowhere to go. And then you're in

danger of losing neutral, right?"

"Exactly. Meanwhile, the player who pushes the other

person to the edge still has plenty of room, so they can fall

back as much as they want."

"Ah, I see."

Hinami was close to the edge, so now she could only win

through reading me. She was reduced to desperately doing

rock-paper-scissors with only two options.

That's why I poked with an aerial just close enough to

barely touch the edge of Hinami's shield. This prevented her

from gaining more ground, was low risk for me, and put

pressure on her. I'd wait until she couldn't hold out any

longer and made herself vulnerable, and then I'd fire the

decisive shot. After all, I could retreat as much as I wanted

to avoid Hinami's attacks.

"When you're in a good position to fade, you have an

incredible advantage because you can choose that option as

much as you want. It's a very strong action, but the more

times you use it, the less times you have left to use it, and the

more opportunities you give your opponent. That makes it a

fairly unique choice."

"So it's a superpowered double-edged sword?"

"Pretty much."

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I watched Hinami's movements intently, poking at her

with my Wigglypoff from positions where I could predict her

jumps and rolls, and where I'd be safe from any out-ofshield counterattacks. Once nanashi has you at the edge of

the stage, he doesn't back off.

"If you fade back, it's hard to lose at that particular round

of rock-paper-scissors, but if you do it too much, things get

harder and harder. That's why people fall back after lunging

way forward and keep an eye on their opponent's moves as

they attack. It's what they call 'playing footsies.'"

"Ah, that makes sense. Each player is trying to make the

other one move back to the edge of the platform and choose

the moments when their opponent doesn't fall back to deal

damage… Is that what you're saying?"

"Yeah. Of course, there are exceptions to the rule, but

that's the essential structure."

As Harry-san and Max-san were carrying on their smooth

and pleasant commentary, Hinami and I were continuing

our negotiation at the edge. I could fall back freely, but she

could not.

Finally, my relentless pressure paid off.

"Bad move."

She couldn't afford to fade, but moving forward was

tough, too. Without forgetting the light shield she'd done to

keep an eye on the situation, I grabbed Hinami's Wigglypoff.

Down throw, forward air, forward air. At a low

percentage, I could segue from the throw into a combo.

Hinami's Wigglypoff flew off the platform, and I chased

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after.

"Ooh, here we go!"

Harry-san's cheer got me fired up.

Now for the all-important edge guard. When I did the

combo, I used up two of my jumps, so I couldn't chase her

that far. Still, as soon as I landed on the stage, I got all my

jumps back, and she hadn't been blown so far back that I

couldn't go for a wall of pain. I went in the direction she'd

fallen and launched an aerial.

But she expertly used a downward air dodge to escape my

strike and grab straight onto the ledge.

"Aww! Anticlimactic."

"Would that have led to a combo?"

"No, not a combo, but nanashi-san would still have an

advantage. When an attack lands, the person getting hit

freezes for a period of time. If that period lasts longer than

the attacker's ending lag, then the victim gets that much of a

later start on their next move."

"You're talking about frame disadvantage, right?"

"Right. If that happens, then the victim starts at a

disadvantage in the next round of rock-paper-scissors."

"Huh…so it's like you lose even if you both do scissors and

it's a draw?"

"That's a good way of putting it. And if the person who has

an advantage wins that round, then they have an advantage

again in the next round. So even if you don't land a combo,

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it's important in this game to hit your opponent as hard as

possible when you have an advantage."

My Wigglypoff returned to the stage before Hinami

finished her recovery.

"And you were saying that this time, he only got in one

hit."

"Yeah. Aoi-san judged the situation well. She knew that

from that position, her downward air dodge would be faster

than her opponent's fast fall, and she could grab the ledge,

too."

"Very simple."

"Yes, very simple—but even if you know that mentally, it's

scary to angle it downward there, so personally, I have a

hard time doing it when it counts. Ha-ha-ha!"

"Not exactly a laughing matter!"

She'd avoided another hit. But she still had virtually

nowhere to go, and I still had the advantage. I ramped up my

poking and put pressure on her again.

"…Thirty percent, down throw."

But what was this? Hinami was muttering something, and

I didn't have to see her face to know she was cool as could

be.

She tried to leap over my head to recover more ground,

but I moved back and prevented her from doing so. At the

same time, I landed another hit. Hinami had to continue

fighting at a disadvantage.

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I maneuvered so she wouldn't retake her space now that I

had it, maintaining my advantage. That's one important

element of this game.

"Nanashi-san sure is tough."

"He sure is. Aoi-san's been in a fairly bad way for a while

now."

"Since they're using the same character, she can't brute

force it with an advantage in mobility or hitboxes. If she

keeps taking damage, she's gonna be in real trouble before

too long."

When you're edge guarding, obviously KOing your

opponent was ideal, but when their percent was very low,

racking up damage is important, too. Using Poff's jumps to

the full, I continued to make scattershot air attacks, building

a wall of hitboxes. The person on the receiving end of this

strategy would want to get back on the platform—but

moving forward would put them in range of my attack, and

they couldn't fade because they were already at the edge. The

noose gradually tightened until they finally cracked. Even a

top player like Hinami was no exception. All I had to do now

was carry it through.

"…Five," Hinami mumbled.

At the same time, her Wigglypoff landed from a double

jump and dashed on the ground toward my midair position

a slight distance away.

Oh.

That's when I realized.

My Poff had run out of jumps.

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"…Shit!" I hissed.

Normally, I'd be able to parry with my extra jumps and

midair mobility to retreat. But my Wigglypoff couldn't do

that, so she was doomed to drop to the ground from her

current position. I could air dodge to change the position

and timing of her fall, and I could attack while landing, but

to a certain degree, where she would land was predictable.

And the instant she hit the ground, she'd have some landing

lag, tiny as it was.

The second I used up my last jump, Hinami predicted all

this, landed right away, and started running. She was ready

for me. From here on out, I was at a disadvantage in our

game of rock-paper-scissors.

"Ouch."

Wigglypoff could do five jumps altogether. She must have

been counting my jumps.

The second I landed, I tried for an aerial. But Hinami had

control, shielding out of her dash to block my aggressive

attempt and grabbing my Wigglypoff.

And then.

"Thirty percent…," she hissed. "Down throw."

As she said it, Hinami's Wigglypoff pressed mine onto the

ground and then hopped up at an angle. I was in the thirties,

the same level of damage Hinami had when I grabbed her

before.

"Forward air… No," she mumbled in a terrifyingly cold

voice. Done with her throw, she pivoted, jumped diagonally,

and hit me with a back air.

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"Uh-oh, a back air!" Harry-san shouted excitedly.

I was surprised myself.

I'd grabbed Hinami at a similar percentage and done a

down throw, too. And I'd followed up with a forward air.

But that was wrong. Wigglypoff's back airs were just a tiny

bit more powerful than her forward airs. They're a little

harder to perform, but if you were going from a down throw

to an aerial combo, then rather than jumping straight into

forward air, you'd get more damage if you switched

directions right when the throw ended, did a backward jump

after your opponent, then attacked with a back air.

…But if I wasn't mistaken…

…Hinami had just copied me by doing a down throw at 30

percent, then segueing into an aerial.

The percent where a particular throw will lead into a

combo is different for each character, and of course, while

anyone would know those numbers for their own character,

it's really hard to memorize them for every fighter. Okay, so

I actually have done that, but unlike me, Hinami took the

shortest possible path to becoming a top player: She copied

me.

Since she wants to spend time on other parts of her life,

she probably divides necessary from unnecessary

information so she doesn't waste any time. She probably

considered combo memorization unnecessary, and instead

of asking herself which direction to throw those characters

in order to segue into a combo, she'd only have to ask which

direction she should alter her own launch angle after being

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hit so they wouldn't be able to start a combo. For example, if

such-and-such character grabs you, you'll be okay if you jam

the stick all the way in such-and-such direction—that sort of

thing tends to exist for a lot of characters, Wigglypoff

included.

Thinking back to what Hinami had said before her attack,

it's probably safe to assume that she had learned about the

throw-to-combo route from me, which I learned from

watching someone else.

Which meant that she was learning combo routes from

her opponent during a battle, then improving on them from

the very first time she used them to make them hit harder,

and turning them back on that same opponent.

"…You're kidding me."

It would be scary enough if she watched her opponent

carefully during the game and completely absorbed

everything they did, but she was actually making their

strategies better, as if that was a totally natural thing to do.

This player, Aoi Hinami—her specs were just too high.

* * *

"Now that was a match!"

"Ha-ha-ha, yeah, that was exciting."

The final match was over, and I was running through it in

my mind as I smiled at Harry-san.

"Also, you're amazing, Aoi-san."

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"Ah-ha-ha. Thank you." Hinami gracefully accepted the

compliment.

"Seriously, you're a star in the Atafami universe to give

nanashi-kun that much of a run for his money!"

"Thanks," she said, looking down. "But…in the end, I still

lost." She couldn't hide the regret in her eyes.

We'd played the match according to the usual first-tothree rule.

I beat Hinami 3–1 to take first place.

"Ha-ha-ha. Better luck next time."

"…Hmph."

Hinami intercepted my boasting with a razor-sharp glare.

I think she was genuinely pissed off. Hopefully it doesn't

affect my assignments.

"I knew I could count on you, nanashi-san!! We won!"

"Uh, you didn't do anything."

"Hey!"

For some reason, Rena-chan seemed overjoyed to get a

brush-off. Maybe she's the type who likes being mistreated.

Harry-san was looking at his laptop with a satisfied

expression.

"Thanks to you two, that stream went great! Chat couldn't

believe nanashi's first live game was with Wigglypoff, but in

general, everyone really enjoyed it! Some people were asking

who Aoi is. Got some new subs, too. You guys are awesome!"

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"Ha-ha, happy to be of service."

This guy was definitely more at home with streaming than

I was, but I made an effort to sound natural when I

answered. I may be a nerd, but I'm purely a game nerd, and

I don't spend much time in that culture.

"Actually, this was a really great experience for me, too,

since I've never played so many people in real life before.

Thank you!" I replied.

That seemed to remind Harry-san of something.

"Oh right! There's a question I've been wanting to ask

you!" He pointed at me, his tone tense.

"What's up?"

"Ordinarily, players who start out online have some

trouble adjusting to the real world. But even though you

mainly play online, you were a natural with the controller.

What's your secret? If you have some special way of

practicing, I'd love to learn from you!"

"Uh…"

The words stuck in my throat.

I mean, the main reason I was so good at playing offline

was…

I glanced to my side. The second-best player in Japan,

who I'd played a million offline games with, was looking

back at me with an expression that said, Whatever. I think

she meant I could tell them the truth as long as I didn't

connect NO NAME to her.

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So I decided to go with that.

"Actually…NO NAME and I play each other offline a lot."

"What?!"

"That NO NAME?!"

"You're kidding! How do you know each other?!"

At this earth-shattering news, even the silent onlookers

craned their necks toward me. Yeah, I mean, the mysterious

top two players in Japan, who'd never showed their faces

offline before today, had actually been meeting in secret all

this time? I think it was enough to shake up everyone

slightly.

"Ha-ha…that's a surprise."

"What's your winrate?!"

"How many times have you met?!"

"What's NO NAME like as a person?!"

Without waiting for me to answer, they were shooting

questions at me rapid-fire. I glanced at the player in

question, and this time, she scrunched her eyebrows

irritably. So she didn't want me to give away the details.

Understood. I could see her point—if I said the mysterious

NO NAME was a second-year high school student like me

and went to my school and on top of that was a beautiful

girl, the Atafami world wouldn't be able to handle it. No

doubt it would be the start of some kind of myth.

"Well…they prefer to keep a low profile, so I can't say

much…"

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"Oh, th-that makes sense… No worries!"

Harry-san sounded disappointed, but he quickly obliged

and dropped the subject. Man, I felt guilty. He'd helped us

out so much throughout the day, I wanted to say a little

more.

"But if I keep it to what I can say…"

"Yeah?!"

A murmur ran through the crowd. Just as NO NAME

implied, the player's age, gender, and everything else were

totally unknown. Whatever I said was sure to cause a stir in

the Atafami world.

I racked my brain for personal information about Hinami

that wouldn't reveal her identity.

"Well…if I were to compare them to something…"

"What, man?!"

I thought for a second, then hit on the perfect answer.

There was probably only one phrase that accurately summed

up NO NAME as a player and a human being.

I turned to the crowd, full of confidence, and told them:

"…NO NAME is like—a final boss."

"A f-final boss…"

A shiver seemed to run down the spine of everyone

listening.

"…Huh?"

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Somehow, I felt like I'd just created a massive

misunderstanding, but I hadn't lied, so I was in the clear…

right?

By the way, the player herself was staring at me with the

face of a captured princess as she mingled with the crowd.

Sorry, you're the one doing the capturing here.

* * *

Half an hour or so passed. After the excitement from the

tournament died down, everyone hung out and talked more

calmly for a while.

"Wow, you're all so connected."

We'd split the bill for a pile of snacks and juice and

alcohol from the closest convenience store and were chatting

about the Atafami world while we shared everything. I was

learning that all kinds of new information was flying, since I

usually only played online. Obviously, Hinami and I and the

rest of the underage crowd were having soft drinks.

By the way, Harry-san and Rena-chan were sitting by me,

and Rena-chan in particular kept bumping my feet because

we were fairly close. Also, every time I looked at her, I saw

that heart-shaped hole, which I wish she'd just cover up. If I

didn't install Mizusawa quick, I'd probably die.

"Yeah, we are. Oh, by the way, Ashigaru-san shows up

here a lot."

"Ashigaru-san? The pro gamer?"

"That's the one."

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I latched on to the meetup gossip Rena-chan was doling

out. Ashigaru-san is the top Lizard user in Japan. He's a pro

Atafami player who regularly participates in international

tournaments, and when he's in good form, he sometimes

ranks at the top. He's incredible.

"I bet he's really tough."

"He is! At least, when I played him, I was totally useless."

"Ah-ha-ha. That's not surprising."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Rena-chan

complained, but she smiled at the same time and touched

my leg between the knee and the thigh. Please stop, I'm

ticklish. Weirdly, even after she took her finger away, the

sensation stayed.

Next to us, Harry-san nodded enthusiastically.

"I mean, his main is Lizard. If you don't know how to

handle him, you're gonna be useless."

"Yeah, with Lizard, you have to be extra careful."

Lizard's a thief character who scatters firecrackers and

steel traps and other projectiles like that all over the stage,

and he fights at mid- to long-range with heavy blows.

There's a lot of techniques and set plays you've got to learn,

and when you're fighting, you have to always be thinking

about multiple things. So even though he's a top-tier

character, people say he's hard to use.

But once you've mastered him, you can really control the

game, and if your opponent doesn't know how to deal with

Lizard, you have a huge advantage. I've seen a lot of games

where Lizard's opponents short-circuit mentally from

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dealing with all projectiles, so he's able to seize control and

beat them before they can do anything.

Ashigaru-san probably used Lizard better than anyone

else in Japan. Maybe in the world.

Harry-san picked up a piece of smoked squid and went on

in a pained voice.

"Oh yeah, you've gotta take some serious special

measures. When we played, I knew I was screwed."

"I know what you mean! He's beyond me, too," Max-san

said, which convinced me they weren't making this up.

"If you're playing someone who's mastered him, I don't

think you can even get him with mind games."

"Right?! I mean, you can't get close to him. And if you do,

you gotta be perfect, or he'll intercept you with a dash attack

or a forward tilt, just like wham! You've gotta keep your

cool, but it's so hard…"

"Huh…I'd like to play him some time."

As we chatted about Atafami, Harry-san, Max-san, and

Rena-chan were all drinking canned cocktails, while I had a

cola. Just being able to talk openly about what I love made

those totally ordinary convenience-store snacks and drinks

taste like the most delicious things in the world.

…Uh, wait a second.

"Rena-chan, are you drinking alcohol?"

"Yes, and?"

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Wait, I thought underage drinking was illegal…

"Um, how old are you?" I asked her. She smiled

nonchalantly.

"I know what you're thinking! I'm twenty."

"What?!"

She was way older than me! No wonder she had that

weirdly adult magnetism. I'd gotten carried away and started

calling her Rena-chan and using casual language with her,

but we never properly introduced ourselves. I did say I was

in high school, but now that I thought about it, I hadn't

asked anyone else how old they were. Damn, human

interactions are tough.

"I should be calling you Rena-san! Sorry about that," I

said.

Rena-chan…Rena-san smiled invitingly.

"Oh, no, nanashi-kun gets to call me Rena-chan."

"Um…"

She just took a giant step closer to me—metaphorically

and literally. That sweet scent blurred my awareness again.

Shit, I had to install Mizusawa. Otherwise, I was going to sit

there gaping like a fish.

So what would Mizusawa do?

I remembered a conversation he and I had a little while

ago.

And then…

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"You're right… I am technically nanashi-kun. I'll stick

with that," I said in a confident, joking tone.

I don't know if that was the right answer, but that's what

my inner Mizusawa said. I think it's because of that

conversation we had about our plans after high school, when

he very confidently said he'd be all right because "this is me

we're talking about, after all." Aside from the discomfort of

acting so full of myself, I think it worked in the conversation.

"Ah-ha-ha! That was a very nanashi-like answer!" Renachan said happily. Maybe she really does enjoy it when

someone messes with her or talks down to her. Weird.

"Um, so, Rena-chan?" I said hesitantly.

"Yes, nanashi-kun?" she answered.

I felt like we were so close, we were actually touching—is

that normal when you're twenty? I was trying to act like it

was totally normal for me, too, and I think I was scoring a

ton of EXP.

As I was successfully navigating this new kind of

conversation with grown-ups…I suddenly heard Hinami's

voice from a slight distance.

"Nope, no one! I mean, there are some guys, but no girls.

That's why I don't talk about it much at school."

I glanced over. She was surrounded by three or four guys,

apparently talking about herself at the center of the circle.

"Yeah, I haven't seen many female players."

"Right?! One reason I came today is because I felt so

lonely."

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I think they were talking about whether there were any

other Atafami players at her school. She was babbling on in

a leisurely, charming way, and the guys listening and

nodding along seemed to be enjoying themselves just as

much—wonder if she was fine with acting like a princess? I

just hoped this didn't turn into a clash of the princesses. I

glanced over at Rena-chan. For a few seconds, she stared at

Hinami, her black eyes unreadable, before looking away.

"You never go to offline tournaments?"

Harry-san's question brought me back to our

conversation. Max-san and Rena-chan were looking at me

curiously. Offline tournaments?

"Honestly, I was never very interested before now."

"Really?" Rena-chan asked.

I nodded.

Until now, I'd stayed in the online world, but of course,

that didn't mean I hadn't thought about it.

"Winrates are calculated from hundreds or thousands of

games, but the results of a tournament might depend on

how I feel the day of. So I thought maybe it didn't mean as

much."

"Yeah, I can see your point."

It was similar to how I used to think about life.

No matter how high your winrate normally is, if you get

nervous on the big day and mess up, you're treated like a

loser. Atafami is the best of the best, and I didn't want it to

be contaminated by elements of a shitty game the second it

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got pulled into the real world—aka life.

I wanted to remove as much randomness as possible from

a competition of effort and ability.

"But…"

"But?"

I thought back on my literal "life experience."

"…lately, I've started to think I should just enjoy all of it.

That's why I came here today."

Harry-san grinned. It was a kind smile, with deep lines at

the corners of his eyes.

"Interesting… So you've gone through some mental and

emotional changes. Well, you are a student, after all!"

"You could be right," I said casually and smiled. Hinami is

my mental image at moments like this when I want to seem

approachable. "I'm planning to check out some of those

tournaments in the future."

"You are? That's great! I'll let you know next time

something's going on."

"Would you?"

"Sure. How should I get in touch? I can't remember if

you're on Twitter or not."

"Uh…no."

I did have an account, but it was a private one that I

basically just used to keep an eye on other people and never

tweeted myself. So I actually didn't have one for interacting

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with people.

"You don't? It'd really be handy for you to have an

account as nanashi."

"You think so?" I asked.

Rena-chan nodded. "Twitter is the main way everyone

stays in touch around here, with replies and DMs."

"Guess I better make one, then."

"The second nanashi makes an account, I bet you'll get

tons of followers," Rena-chan said, eyeing me. She seemed

pleased, although I'm not sure why.

"Do you have one?" I asked her.

"Of course! Wait a second…" She took out her phone and

showed me her profile.

"Thanks."

The account for rena@atafamiaka was pulled up, with an

icon that was very obviously a selfie. She followed 56 people

and had 521 followers, which was fairly impressive.

"This is the account where I chat with everyone!" she said,

handing me her phone. I took it, slightly embarrassed by her

trust, and scrolled down through her tweets. There was a big

mix of content—a picture of an Atafami screen with the

words Training mode, anyone? as well as tweets about her

everyday life with selfies attached, and comments about

real-world meetups. There were even lists of stuff she

wanted from Amazon and ones saying, It's here! I wonder if

she's well-known in this world. I guess you stand out if you

look like that in the Atafami world.

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"Cute!"

I'd found a picture of Rena-chan holding a cat, with the

words At the cat café.

"I know! Actually…"

She sidled up right next to me and started telling me

about the picture. Since we were both looking at the screen,

we were super close, and our shoulders were actually

touching. That sweet scent drifted into my nostrils and

attacked my brain again, and a warm sensation was

spreading steadily from my shoulder. I'm fairly sure I'd be in

trouble if she stayed this close for long.

I mumbled the appropriate responses as she told me her

story, then when she paused, I handed back her phone and

continued talking to Harry-san and Max-san.

"Anyway, I'll get in touch after I make an account."

"Got it. But you still haven't told me how," Harry-san said

jokingly, laughing a little.

"Ah-ha-ha. Very true. Wanna exchange LINE info?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Me too!"

I traded info with Harry-san, Max-san, and Rena-chan.

These days, that's not enough to get me flustered—but I did

feel slightly guilty about doing so with a girl while I was

dating Kikuchi-san…

Once we were friends on LINE, Harry-san turned to me

with wide eyes.

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"I saw you use your real name on there—are you okay with

that?"

"Oh yeah…"

I only realized after he pointed it out; I'd been using my

gamer handle the whole time at this meetup, but my LINE

name was just Fumiya Tomozaki.

I felt a little shy about having the two names connected,

but it wasn't like anything was going to happen just because

people knew my real name.

"It's fine! No loss for me!"

"Ah-ha-ha. Gotcha. I'll still add you as nanashi, though."

"Fine by me," I said, nodding.

By the way, Harry-san was just Harry, Max-san was

Shibata/max, and Rena-chan was R*.

Rena-chan gazed at her phone intently, then smiled.

"Your name is Fumiya-kun?"

"Um, yeah."

She locked eyes with me. "Can I call you Fumiya-kun?"

"Um, I guess so…"

It was technically fine, but again, I was dating Kikuchisan. I felt guilty—but I would sound crazy if I said, No, you

can't call me Fumiya-kun because I have a girlfriend. This

was a tough situation.

"Yesss! Fumiya-kun it is!" she joked.

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"'Yesss'? What's so exciting about that?" I joked back.

Wow, we sure were getting friendly. It was strange; I felt

like my position was being eroded but not in an unpleasant

way.

Now that we'd all exchanged info, we went back to talking

about Atafami. I wanted to ask them a lot of things.

"Interesting! So depending on the location, some

characters are easier to defend against than others?"

There were YouTubers like Harry-san and Max-san, and

others who wanted to be pros. There was the Kanto region

and the Kansai region, the online scene and the offline

scene. A whole wide world was out there, and of course, as

an Atafami player, I wanted to know about it.

"Yeah. The number of players in a certain area who've

mastered a given character is surprisingly important."

"It's so…mundane, you know?"

I tried to sound as cheerful and funny as possible as I

asked the questions I wanted to ask and responded to other

people's questions or made my own comments. What was

slightly different from other parts of my life was that it was

all based on Atafami, which I love.

To my own mild surprise, I felt totally at home here.

I hoped that Hinami was feeling the same way.

* * *

The next morning, I was sitting on my bed, checking

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various social media sites and smiling awkwardly.

"Top Online Player nanashi Turns Out to Be a Hunk…"

As I was scrolling through the feed on my private Twitter

account, an Atafami news roundup with that title popped

up. I opened it and saw that the main Atafami threads were

all about nanashi appearing at a real-world meetup,

sweeping the tournament with overwhelming skill—and

being a stud who brought a beautiful girl with him.

"…Oh man."

That wasn't all.

An Atafami player who I followed had rt'd a tweet saying

nanashi-san is super handsome, can't believe he's in high

school! by someone who was at the meetup and then added

For reals? There were clips of the live broadcast of my final

match against Hinami and videos of past online games

posted by my opponents. Nanashi had apparently been the

talk of Japan's Atafami world since the day before.

"Wow…this is getting more attention than I expected."

I knew I was somewhat well-known because of my

ranking, but I honestly had no idea that just taking part in

an offline meetup would get this much attention. Even

famous pro players who went to international tournaments

were tweeting stuff like So nanashi finally showed up offline

and Good-looking on top of it all. S-tier? My stomach was

full of butterflies just reading them.

There were also some tweets saying stuff like Good at

Atafami, handsome… God's unfair. Unforgivable, nanashi,

where I couldn't tell if they were being mean or joking or

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both, which made my stomach flip.

But anyway, if the rumor was that the top online player in

Japan was a high school student and handsome to boot, I

felt like I needed to say something.

"'Handsome,' huh…?"

I'd gotten that compliment multiple times the day before.

It was the polar opposite of what I'd always been called in

the past—gloomy or creepy or ugly or a freak. And now I

was being hit with words like stylish and easy to talk to and

chatty, which I normally associated with the normies in my

class. This was definitely a first for me.

I stood in front of my full-length mirror and stared at my

reflection.

"…Interesting."

I realized something.

In the past, I'd looked at this guy in the mirror, with his

hair done and his mannequin clothes on, and thought, He's

pretty stylish. That gave me a confidence boost.

But this was different.

The guy in the mirror hadn't styled his hair, and he was

wearing his pajamas. He sure as hell wasn't stylish. The real

me was on full display.

But that didn't matter.

My own reflection didn't gross me out.

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My hair was a mess, considering I'd basically just woken

up and run my hand through it.

I was wearing a set of threadbare black sweats that were

obviously very well-loved.

My ordinary bedroom added nothing.

But…I didn't feel like I was a freakish nerd.

I don't know if that counts as growth or vanity.

Maybe I just felt that way because I could see the changes

in how I was holding myself.

Or maybe I was a little buzzed from all the compliments

I'd gotten the day before.

But I was sure those changes meant more. Way more than

dressing well or being able to hold a conversation.

"…All right!"

I was staring at my face.

I'd been living with this face for seventeen years. It was

the first thing people would see about me, and I couldn't

change it.

My features weren't especially even, but they weren't too

bad, either. I didn't hate it quite as much as I used to—and

as I studied, I found myself accepting it unconditionally.

"'Handsome,' eh? …Well, I'm not sure about that," I

muttered—to who, I didn't know. Eventually, I started to feel

silly and laughed to myself.

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It's not that I wasn't happy. But I didn't think those

compliments determined my value.

Any value I had came from the action and determination

that made me decide to change and then follow through.

I'm a gamer to the core, and that was my genuine belief.

"…Here I go!"

I pulled myself together and sat down at my computer to

start doing some research.

I wanted to find out more about the world of Atafami that

Harry-san and Max-san had told me about the day before.

First, I looked up Harry-san's YouTube channel and

scanned the list of uploaded videos. At the top of the long list

was one titled "Japan's top player is even better than me at

using Wigglypoff! nanashi VS Aoi on Atafami." I smirked. I

got his point, but that's really the kind of title he uses?

Skipping over my own video out of embarrassment, I

played some of his other videos in the background as I

continued my research.

I looked up schedules for real-world meetups, and the

differences between Kanto and Kansai style. I read about

players like Harry-san with profitable YouTube channels,

and pros who played internationally.

These days, the majority of pro players actually seemed to

have YouTube channels, too, and when I searched for

famous pros on Twitter, a high percentage of them had links

to their channel. They all posted fairly often, but how did

they balance practice with making videos? Considering that

a lot of them also had regular jobs, I figured they must be

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posting their practice games on YouTube.

And how did they cover the costs when they went overseas

for tournaments? How did sponsors support pro teams?

How big were the prizes, what social standing did pros have,

what was the history, and how did future prospects look? I

researched all of it.

Unlike the game itself, this way of having your life

wrapped around Atafami was new to me. I'd assumed I

knew about that world, but I'd never actually looked into it,

and now that I did, its breadth and depth surprised me.

"These guys are incredible…"

I looked at some videos by people other than Harry-san,

too. I'd watched a lot of serious games and tournament

videos in the past, but I'd skimmed over the lessons for

beginners and the character intros. I hadn't realized it, but

like Harry-san, a lot of people made money off this stuff. I

could tell from the variety of the editing choices,

conversational styles, and structures that a lot more went

into it than simply playing the game.

"Interesting…"

I'd thought online winrates were the be-all and end-all of

Atafami, but maybe I was wrong. I mean, even a quick

glance around revealed this hugely varied universe.

It was like…well, like real life.

Some people played for fun, and others more seriously.

Some were pros, others were YouTubers.

Some pros specialized in serious matches, while others

were entertainers who attracted viewers more with their

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commentary than with their playing.

There were people who did this as a job and others who

did it for fun on the side.

Their perspectives and the information they provided

were all over the board, and none was "better" than any

other.

Well, in that case…

…if I wanted to do it myself, what approach would I

choose?

Part of me was casually mulling over the question now.